Will Reparation Serve Justice?

Reparation
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Reparation
During the seventeenth Century, the demand for the workforce in the European sugar plantations in the Caribbean and tobacco plantations grew, leading to a workforce shortage and a high production cost which encouraged the slave trade (Zong Massacre handout). Reparation is intended to encourage justice by addressing grave violations of international human rights and accepting injustices done during a certain period to a certain group (Burnad, 2019). Various countries have done this using several ways. The process can be done through compensation in the form of money, acknowledgment of guilt through offering apology and construction of memorials, Restoration of victim's rights and freedom, providing psychological and physical support to the victims, and guaranteeing the victims no repetition of such acts in the future. It is done through enacting new laws and abolishing acts that facilitated injustice. The facilitation of compensation programs by the Government and other entities through public apology and legislation of acts that prohibit slavery will correct historical injustice while prohibiting a repeat of slavery in the modern day.
In 1781 one hundred and thirty enslaved Africans were killed by being thrown overboard from a slave ship by the crew. They said the reason for throwing the enslaved person in the ocean was to save the rest from hunger and thirst and to cash in from the insurance company since they were insured. The incident was called the Zong massacre, which was done by the British. The ship was owned by a slave syndicate based in Liverpool; they had insured the enslaved people as cargo since it was the practice the ship traders did (Iasiello, 2018). It ensured compensation in case something happened to the enslaved people apart from disease.
Later discovered that the ship had enough water and food, but the enslaved people were sick due to overcrowding. The syndicate had carried excess enslaved people causing danger to everyone on board. To avoid losing their variable commodity from dying, the crew decided to throw them in the ocean before they died so that they could blame the supplies of water and food and be compensated by insurance firms (Zong Massacre handout). It did not go well with the insurance firm, which refused to pay the slave traders, ending up in court and going through a series of cases.
Following the first trial between an insurance firm and a slave syndicate, the news brought the awareness of the abolitionist campaigner Granville who worked hard to have the crew ship and owner to justice through prosecution for murder (Faubert, 2018). He faced opposition which led to him not succeeding in bringing justice to the crew and the victims. Reports of legal disputes increased awareness and publicity and exposed the slave trade and mass killing of innocent individuals stimulating the abolition of the slave trade movement (Faubert, 2018). It was a big win for the anti-slavery movement since it started the beginning of the end of the slave trade. The Zong events were highly cited as a powerful tool for fighting the slave trade.
An act of congress passed in eighteen hundred made it illegal to engage in the slave trade between countries, and anybody found transporting enslaved people their ship would be seized and their cargo confiscated. The Zong massacre can use several factors; to create harmony and equality between Africans and Europeans can be restored. Police officers can also treat Africans and Europeans equally without discrimination by recognizing that their family members suffered at the hands of the British (Lichtenstein, 2000). Additionally, they should be recognized and asked what they want or require to feel accommodated. Zong ship crew were not prosecuted for murder hence need to restore the relationship between victims and the courts. Justice was not served to both the victims and their families. The relationship between the Government that encouraged the slave trade and the African Americans should be restored.
People responsible directly or indirectly for the slave trade can be held accountable for their actions. Government, Slave traders, and native Europeans should be held accountable. Government should be held accountable for not protecting all citizens equally and not ending the slave trade early. The regime of the day pays for reparation to the victims who are said to have suffered injustice like slavery. Additionally, Clergy can be used to heal the damage by apologizing to the victims or victims' families and recognizing there was an injustice. Slave traders who participated in slavery should be held accountable by being taken to court and answered for their crimes. Lastly, the native Europeans should be held accountable for not condemning the slave trade and for using enslaved people in their firms ...